How to: Obtain an X.509 Certificate

In order to use any of the features of WSE that use X.509 certificates, certificates must first be obtained.

To obtain an X.509 certificate choose one of the following

  • Purchase a certificate from a certificate authority, such as VeriSign, Inc.

  • Set up your own certificate service and have a certificate authority sign the certificates. Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 family, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server all include Certificate Services that support public key infrastructure (PKI).

  • Set up your own certificate service and do not have the certificates signed.

    Note   Whichever approach you take, the recipient of the SOAP request containing the X.509 certificate must trust the X.509 certificate. This means that the X.509 certificate or an issuer in the certificate chain is in the Trusted People certificate store and that the X.509 certificate is not in the Untrusted Certificates store.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Use the X.509 Certificate Management Tools
How to: Make X.509 Certificates Accessible to WSE
How to: Specify the Certificate Authority Certificate Chain Used to Verify Signatures
X.509 Certificate Tool (WseCertificate2.exe)

Other Resources

X.509 Certificate
Managing X.509 Certificates